cb1000rider wrote:The Annoyed Man wrote:
So what we are left with is this: We either trust that the courts are impartial, or we don't, because no amount of stalinist oversight will force impartiality. What makes the state think that a judge who no longer participates in scouting or supports it, still doesn't hold his scouting oath to be a sacred thing? What makes the state think that this judge still won't let his former associations color his thinking?
They cannot even remotely guarantee that. The only guarantee they can have is to create a three judge panel of women like Justices Ginsburg, Sotomayor, and Kagan to approve all judicial appointments going forward......and that is a terrifying thought. So the only alternative we can have is to trust the current system, and not hector judges about their past associations.
Could you trust a judge that's a KKK member to rule on an issue of race based discrimination? I couldn't..
Could you trust a judge whose kids are involved in the BSA to rule on an issue of sexual orientation based discrimination? I can see that as possible.
Courts are not impartial. Especially SCOTUS. That's why the political appointments are so important.
It's human nature to be partial. And like VM - I absolutely rail against those who would make an major issue out of what private individuals do with their personal time while they ignore the "big points" of the good book, I have zero affirmation for people who need to throw their particular brand of minority issue in our faces.
You might have missed it, where I said:
The fact is, we could go on and on and on, and without much skull sweat, we could come up with a list of hundreds possibilities in which the personal views of the judge are a potentially at conflict with the interests of the persons who appear before them. The BSA issue is no different than those, because at their core, ALL of these issues are politicized.
IF this issue really is important - the issue of a judge who supports BSA - then all the issues I listed above are EQUALLY important, and the state can therefore demand that all judges resign their political affiliations and stop voting. Otherwise, the state is picking winners and losers - violating the Constitution with one hand, and upholding it with the other......and that is not justice.
THIS issue isn't about how a private organization chooses to set its standards, it is about whether or not a state can require a state employee to abandon membership in or support of private organizations which the state argues would impede that employee's ability to provide an impartial judicial atmosphere. While I don't think that the state should be doing this, I DO think that the concept has some validity.......not just for LGBT, but for all kinds of people in all kinds of situations.
So no, I could not trust a judge who was a member of the KKK (nor could I trust a democrat senator who was, either) If I were a black defendant, I would expect my lawyer to know something about the judge's bio, and to demand a recusal in any trial involving me as a defendant. Ditto if I were a gay man, and the judge had been a member of or supported BSA. On the other hand, if I were a CHL charged in a self-defense shooting, I would expect my lawyer to demand a recusal of any judge who was not a member of NRA. If I were a father in a custody case, I would insist on a judge who was a single father.
Individually, each of these has merit. Collectively, they add up to a breakdown of the judicial system. IF we start sniping at one judge because of his current or past associations, well, then we have to snipe at all of them, because any one of them could be prejudiced against a given defendant before his/her court, for a myriad of reasons. Consequently, either all must be trusted, or none can be trusted.
That was my point.
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”
― G. Michael Hopf, "Those Who Remain"
#TINVOWOOT